I have heard of Kelly Pavlik. Dont know much about him but I was proud of him. I just assumed he was some kind of Irishman… an Irish Irishman.

“The rest of your post illustrates why its difficult to appeal to the inner city. ”

Its my fault now ?!!!

Understanding and Regulating the Sport of Mixed Martial Arts

Brendan S. Maher
Oklahoma City University School of Law

Hastings Communications and Entertainment Law Journal, Forthcoming

Abstract:
The past fifteen years have seen the emergence of a new sport in America and around the world: mixed martial arts (“MMA”). MMA is an interdisciplinary combat sport whose participants engage in and combine a variety of fighting disciplines (e.g., kickboxing, wrestling, karate, jiu-jitsu, and so on) within one match.

In this Article, I examine and analyze the sport’s evolution, articulate a theory of sporting legitimacy, supply a conceptual taxonomy of regulation, and highlight potential reform. More specifically, my foundational treatment proceeds as follows. I first explain the modern history and development of MMA, tracing it from its shaggy, brutish beginnings to its current incarnation. I next offer a pragmatic justification for the legitimacy and propriety of MMA, consider objections, and compare it to other sports and entertainment accepted as part of modern American life. I then review the state-based and administrative nature of MMA regulation, and identify the three conceptual categories of existing MMA regulation that are most useful in understanding the connection between legitimacy and regulatory oversight. I conclude by briefly highlighting two reform possibilities – federalization and unionization – that are of interest to industry players, reformers, and scholars.

He shouts out to Zach and Ivan in his acknowledgements.

A bunch of tough answers regarding funding/organization of amateur programs, the advent of free agency, and the attitude towards boxing by white people. Interestingly, there are white Americans who box. Have you seen Kelly Pavlik? The best amateur heavyweight for the US during much of the last 5 years was Mike Wilson, a white guy. He never really went far internationally though, since he ran into army trained Russians/Ukranians/Uzbeks/etc.

The rest of your post illustrates why its difficult to appeal to the inner city. If Gleason’s Gym and Kronk had been in New Rochelle and Farmington Hills instead of Detroit and Brooklyn and cost 6 times as much, boxing would be a very different sport.

How about white americans? Why dont we get to be in boxing?

As far as a lack of access to sports or MMA, UFC or MMA does not control the size or demographics of ghettos. And I’m not sure what ghetto is so large these days that you couldn’t get to a normal city within an hour long bus ride at most.

Plus the fact that you dont have to come from some precious sophisticated division 1 wrestling background to get involved.
jackson may have “wrestled” in high school and “junior college” but all it took was for him to find out that he can “beat up white people and not go to jail” and the next thing you know he was in KOTC and Pride without much more than his street fighting ability.
And the rest shall we say has been history.

As far as advertising in XXL and on BET, lets not.
There’s already way too much fickel pop crowd being brought in and watering down the sport for easier consumption through MTV and its ilk. A black version of the MTV crowd is not what I had in mind for growth of the sport.
I already saw Iron Ring.

MMA is out there now.
And it has been for awhile for those of us who looked for it.
Black people can see it almost anywhere if they want to. Any black person who owns a TV, rents DVD’s or goes on the internet (and I’m assuming that they do) can become aware of it quite easily.

There’s an intermediary of stickball and the MLB farm system; its Dominican semipro & pro baseball. In the case of baseball in the US, there is no intermediary there. Players are selected by teams through a draft of high school talent. No high school baseball = no pro baseball.